Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Sadly, the New Barber Shop of Chelsea is no more. Reader Richie Cohen writes in, "I just walked past New Barber Shop and Manolo was locking up for the last time. Remember how Willie said they found a new place on 18th Street? That fell through. I wanted to cry, but I shook his hand and we just sadly said good luck. I've known them for 22 years. Willie used to cut my hair for free when I was an unemployed actor."

With a red banner around the property capitalizing on the High Line's proximity ("Where Chelsea Meets the Highline"), Stonehenge has released their rendering of the plans for the mom-and-pop block.

Where once was a colorful row filled with eclectic, family-run, and useful businesses that served the local community, we see a field of beige.

Stonehenge

Where the Tamara dry cleaners and tailoring shop stands today, there's a bland nothingness. The same extends right through the New Barber Shop, erasing a space that harbored many for more than just a haircut. Patricia and her wonderful Sweet Banana Candy store get the same treatment. The New China, already gone, will also be blandified, along with everything else.

Before

After

Reported DNA, Stonehenge "wants to bring in a single tenant for the roughly 5,300-square-foot space — once home to six small businesses — on a 10-year lease, according to broker documents. The new spot at 112 Ninth Ave. will be gutted and renovated in time for a 2013 opening."

This is heartbreaking. Really a sea of beige compared to what this block used to be. Sometimes it makes you wonder, how a developer can completely ignore what makes a neighborhood great RIGHT NOW, not just prioritizing for future denizens that can afford/have the desire to pay 10x as much for whatever "services" the new tenants will provide...(my $ is on a chain retail store).

Now that I got that out of my system...Does anybody have a lead on where Manolo or Willie are cutting hair now?

That line "He used to cut my hair for free when I was an out of work actor" says everything about the difference between a mom and pop shop and these bland boring Investment portfolio real estate vultures. Every day gets sadder and sadder- and it's happening everywhere- this creeping blandness, this worship of "luxury" and the giving of huge swaths of land to rich developers for sweetheart deals so they can suck the lifeblood out of us all drop by drop.